Iraqi police keep Sunni protesters from mosque

Saturday

Mar 16, 2013 at 12:01 AMMar 16, 2013 at 9:52 AM

BAGHDAD - Protesters clashed yesterday with Iraqi police trying to prevent them from reaching the most venerated Sunni mosque in Baghdad, as members of their sect once again massed for anti-government rallies in several Iraqi cities.

BAGHDAD — Protesters clashed yesterday with Iraqi police trying to prevent them from reaching the most venerated Sunni mosque in Baghdad, as members of their sect once again massed for anti-government rallies in several Iraqi cities.

Iraqi security forces had prevented worshippers from holding Friday prayers at the Abu Hanifa mosque last week as well, a development that reflects heightened sectarian tensions nearly a decade after the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Police officials said riot police used batons and water hoses to prevent worshippers from crossing a bridge leading to the mosque, which is located in the primarily Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah.

The officials said five worshippers sustained bruises and minor injuries in the skirmishes at the bridge, about 1 mile from Abu Hanifa.

The clashes did not reach the Abu Hanifa mosque. The area around the holy site was calm, and hundreds of people attended the Friday prayers there.

In the western province of Anbar, the heart of the protest movement that began in December, masked men arrived at the site of demonstrations in Fallujah, raising the flag used by predominantly Sunni rebels in neighboring Syria.

In the country’s north, gunmen ambushed a minibus that was carrying soldiers heading to their base, killing eight and wounding one, said police and hospital officials.

The soldiers were on their way to report to their unit when gunmen sprayed their bus with bullets near the city of Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad.

Earlier in the day, gunmen in the city of Baqouba killed Khalil Mohammed, a local leader in the Sahwa anti-al-Qaida movement, and three of his sons.